From fall festivities to drunk guy w/guns, Mentor memo has it all

Mentor has many recreational opportunities lined up next month, the police dept recently earned a rare distinction, and I think I can safely say you wouldn’t want to live next to the Eastmoor Road resident below. Those items & more in the latest weekly city manager memo to City Council:

Manager Comments • Patrol officers responded to 8275 Eastmoor Road for a complaint of shots fired last Sunday. The department is familiar with this residence and knows the resident has several weapons in the house, including an assault rifle (AK-47 type). The resident, Ronald Ewanek, refused to come outside and speak to officers. Three other people in the house came out and said Ewanek fired his assault rifle three times in the backyard and was highly intoxicated. Mentor SWAT and Crisis Negotiators responded to the scene but Ewanek still refused to speak with officers or come out of the house. He eventually exited the house after SWAT introduced chemical gas inside the house. Ewanek was arrested and charged appropriately. Recovered inside the house was one handgun, four rifles, including a Ruger mini 14 assault rifle, a FEG 7.62mm assault rifle (which include a 100 round magazine drum) and hundreds of rounds of ammunition for all of the weapons.

• ODOT Director Jerry Wray was in Mentor Friday morning for a press conference to highlight a new safety initiative passed by the State legislature. This initiative will involve the temporary adjustment of speed limits within construction zones by use of remotely controlled trailers. he concrete repair work on SR 2 will be the first pilot project in Ohio to utilize this technology. The conference was held in the Big Lots parking lot and guests included District 12 Deputy Director Pakush, Representative Young, and Senator Patton, who sponsored the legislation. Dave Swiger, Councilman Landeg, Captain Knight, and I also attended.

• Traffic congestion continues to be a challenge at Diamond Center and Heisley Road due to ODOT construction. Daily lane closure will continue in both the northbound and southbound directions as work is completed. While northbound traffic is limited to one lane, significant back-ups occur on both Heisley Road and Diamond Centre. The City is attempting to work with ODOT and their contractor on a resolution to this issue. The city has been advised that work in this area will be complete by mid-October. Mentor PD has had officers directing traffic during the mid-day and evening rush hours. This will continue until the work is completed.

Fire Department• Mentor Fire Department recently responded with equipment and chief officers to Wickliffe for two separate fires. The first fire was Sept. 14 at 4:03 p.m. and the second was Sept. 15 at 10:20 p.m.

• On Sept. 15 at 8:17 a.m., the fire department responded to Lincoln Electric for a reported industrial accident. Paramedics arrived on the scene to find a worker, who after cutting wire, had a piece fly up and embed just under his right temple. The patient was treated and transported to the hospital in stable condition.

• On Sept. 18 at 12:07 p.m., the fire department responded to 7445 Mentor Ave. for a single car motor vehicle accident that resulted with live electrical wires on top of the vehicle. The female driver suffered minor injuries but could not be removed from the car for nearly 20 minutes as FirstEnergy crews had to be called to de-energize the wires for paramedics to access the patient.

• On Sept. 18, several neighboring fire departments provided additional fire and EMS coverage to the City of Mentor while several of our members attended funeral services for deceased Part-time Firefighter Michael Friedel. Mike had served the city well for 28 years and our prayers are with his family.

Police Department• Our department was recently recognized by the ATF and the U.S. Bomb Data Center as having 100 percent accuracy in the reports we filed in the ATF Bomb Arson Tracking System. Use of this system is required of bomb squads to report all related calls for service. BATS is used to track activity and related calls across jurisdictional boundaries. Of the more than 400 public safety bomb squads in the United States, only 10 have had this distinction.

Parks and Recreation Department• These are a few activities that will be taking place during the month of October: Great Pumpkin Hunt on Oct. 5; Employee Fun Day on Oct. 6; the Fall Bridal Gala on Oct. 7; the Fireside Series — “Betcha Didn’t Know” with Jim Collins on Oct. 10; the 26th Annual Porcelain Treasures Show on Oct. 14; and the Howl-O-Ween Party for Dogs on Oct. 19.

• The Community Garden was a success this year with plenty of vegetables being donated to the Senior Center. The Community Garden is being entered for an award through the Ohio Parks & Recreation Association.

• We received the Healthy Ohio Healthy Community Bronze Award for 2012, which is given out by the Department of Health.

• The Senior Center luncheon for the volunteers was a big success with about 175 people in attendance.

• The Ohio Flames — Ignite the Ice Women’s Hockey Tournament starts Friday and will have teams participating from around the country.

• The haul-out of boats has begun at the Mentor Lagoons Marina as the boating season comes to an end.

Engineering• Signal work continues at Center Street. The contractor is preparing to resurface the Center Street interchange area within the next couple weeks. Upon completion of the resurfacing, Center Street will be striped into its final configuration with dual left turns onto SR 2 eastbound and westbound.

• On mainline SR 2, noise wall placement continues. The contractor is also preparing to pave mainline SR 2 from SR 615 to the west. The pavement east of SR 615 is expected to be paved in the spring.

Economic and Community Development• Tom Thielman and Tony Zampedro attended the quarterly economic development meeting of the Lake County Port Authority. Communities throughout Lake County, as well as representatives from Federal, State and County governments, presented brief updates about current economic development activity.

• Ron Traub participated in an exploratory meeting regarding the “repurposing” of one of the buildings in the Old Village.

Finance• The City will be soliciting competitive quotes to obtain favorable pricing on its property and casualty insurance for next year. We will be working with our risk management and insurance consultant to ensure that coverage remains with highly rated companies.